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On the flip side, that’s a 50-year old quote and maybe times have changed?
by paulcole 4y ago
On the flip side, that’s a 50-year old quote and maybe times have changed?
- andreareina 4y agoMaybe the specifics have changed but I'd argue the general sentiment remains valid. And at least half of those specifics still apply.
- PainfullyNormal 4y agoHave humans really changed in the last 2000 years? You can still find books today published back during Roman times complaining about kids these days and how they mispronounce latin.
- ben_w 4y agoWe have changed in some important ways in the last 20 years, and are yet the same in other ways as our nearest primates today and therefore probably our ancestors 2 million years ago. When we all have smartphones with access to WolframAlpha, do we need to know how to solve equations ourselves, or is it sufficient to just know how to phrase the problem so the software can answer it? Even excluding vegetarians and vegans, who even has access to hogs to butcher them — and given food delivery options, how many need to bother even if they can?
- drewcoo 4y agoWhy 2000? Mispronounced in Latin: "emm an' emm years" https://australian.museum/learn/science/human-evolution/homo-sapiens-modern-humans/ https://australian.museum/learn/science/human-evolution/homo...
- nbernard 4y agoWhat do you think of HN's cstross take in his novel _Saturn's Children_ ? > Please excuse my lack of depth; I'm a generalist, not a specialist. > Why bother learning all that biochemistry stuff --- or how to design a building, or conn a boat, or balance accounts, or solve equations, or comfort the dying --- when you can get other people to do all that for you in exchange for a blow job? (to me, it seems to be more a blow job specialist's view than that of an actual generalist, but ...)
- FlyingSnake 4y agoYou can replace some parts of it, but the core message is timeless.
- anigbrowl 4y agoIt's more relevant than ever.
- Rebelgecko 4y agoFair enough, nowadays you're probably better off writing a non-rhyming poem as opposed to a sonnet (at least if you're trying to be trendy). However I think a lot of the other skills are attainable and even worthwhile.
- tobyjsullivan 4y agoI don’t know know if anything has changed but sometimes it feels like most people today can’t do a single one of those things. Maybe it was always an unrealistic expectation, though.
- Kaibeezy 4y agoI’d add: - write an effective contract and be able to tell if one that someone hands you is reasonable - be able to explain to people you feel some responsibility towards how to install and operate a VPN - have a grip on basic statistics and economics - cook a tasty meal from grains, legumes, vegetables and/or fungi